More white privilege

I met a white friend for lunch today who was telling me about a program in the city that gives Black girls living in the projects such things as lunch money, trips to buy a school outfit, and access to school supplies. These girls had to show up, work a couple hours a week in the community center in exchange for these things.

She then told me about one of the womyn giving girls these things without making them work for it or whether they showed up to work or not. She was disturbed these girls were just being "handed things"and concerned about the values this was instilling in them.

I asked her whether when she was their age, did she have to work for her lunch money or her school clothes or notebooks and pencils?

She was abashed to admit, no she didn’t. White children do not have to jump through hoops to get basic needs met, but whites feel obligated to make Black children ‘earn’ what are the normal privileges of being white and in school.